Man has always attempted to improve and perfect the coordination between various body parts such as head and shoulders etc. to perfect the performance of physical tasks required in the accomplishment of work or sports activities. These attempts have resulted in a variety of approaches, many of which are highly successful but requiring supportive services or constraints rendering them non-applicable to all situations.
A classical method of improving a person's coordination has been through the use of an instructor who will observe a trainee's actions. This approach is not always successful or advisable in some situations because the observer or instructor may not be able to ascertain if the precise and exact coordinated effort has been accomplished. This method is fairly costly because an instructor must normally be hired and the expense precludes the person of average monetary resources from obtaining the amount of practice that may be required to perfect his coordination.
Numerous attempts have been made to circumvent the need for an observer so that an individual may engage in self-improvement practice sessions when instructors or observers are not available or it is desired that their services not be employed for numerous personal and financial reasons. Included among the various attempts to eliminate the use of an observer are the use of mirrors and physical restraints.
Practicing a function that requires body coordination before mirrors has been highly successful for certain types of coordination but when the body coordination which is to be improved requires a person's visual contact with an object during the coordinated movements, the use of mirrors is impractical. For instance, if a person is attempting to improve his coordination in swinging a tennis racquet, golf club, baseball bat or similar sports implement which requires the participant to maintain eye contact with an object while attempting to strike it, it is impossible for the trainee to view his actions in a mirror.
The use of physical constraints has numerous disadvantages because the constraints often times hamper the free flowing movement which the trainee is attempting to achieve and therefore the use of a constraint may provide more harmful effects than benefits in various training situations.